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Scientific Misconduct Letters to the Editor areas, we recognize the public health The final report ofthat inquiry found threat of dispensing mercury. However, Blood Lead Levels, "no evidence of deliberate falsification," we recommend also that the dangers of Scientific Misconduct, as selectively quoted in the Journal ar- mercury be sensitively separated from the and the Needleman Case ticle, but did find "a deliberate misrepre- social-psychological benefits of spiritual- sentation of procedures." This part of the ism. In inner-city Hispanic communities, finding was omitted from Silbergeld's espintsmo is an indigenous source of 1. A Reply from the Lead article. The report concluded that "Dr. community socialization and support. Needleman was deliberately misleading Spiritualists frequently represent the first Industry in the published accounts of the proce- dures used in the line of extrafamilial mental health inter- Together, industry, government, and 1979 study." The board vention. Since botanicas also sell medici- unanimously recommended that Dr the public health community have made Needleman submit corrective statements nal plants and herbal remedies, they offer great progress in reducing blood lead some basic health care familiar to the to the journals in which his original levels in this country. It is regrettable that studies were published and that he make cultures of Latin America. Therefore, a supposedly peer-reviewed journal with his complete data set available to any public health interventions must be aimed the stature of the American Joumal of investigator. The Office ofResearch Integ- at helping spiritualists find safe alterna- Public Health would choose to print the rity reiterated these same findings in its tives to mercury. [ ill-conceived and misleading annotation oversight report released in March 1994. Luis H. Zayas, PhD by Ellen Silbergeld on the Herbert Needle- The lead industry never attempted to Philip 0. Ozuah, MD man case.1 influence the University of Pittsburgh, the A carefully worded accusation in the Office of Scientific Integrity, or their opening line ofSilbergeld's article charges The authors are with the Department of inquiries, and to imply otherwise is false. Family Medicine, Albert Einstein College of that the lead industry somehow misused Other implied accusations in the Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, the National Institute of Health's Office Silbergeld article, such as that the lead Bronx, NY; Dr Zayas is also with the Graduate ofScientific Integrity to attack Dr Needle- industry tried to stifle the truth about lead School of Social Service, Fordham University, man. Lead Industries Association, Inc, exposure and lead poisoning, are equally Tarrytown, NY. the trade association for the lead industry, untrue, as evidenced by a careful reading Requests for reprints should be sent to has never contacted the of Re- Luis H. Zayas, PhD, Graduate School ofSocial Office of her text. For example, she states that Service, Fordham University, Tarrytown, NY search Integrity or anyone associated with the industry association's "greatest tri- 10591. it with respect to this case. To imply that umph" occurred in 1925 when "it over- Lead Industries Association, Inc, or this rode opposition to the introduction of industry, has "used" the Office of Scien- tetraethyl lead as a gasoline additive." References tific Integrity or has had any influence on However, in the previous sentence she 1. Agocs MM, Etzel AE, Parrish GR, et al. the deliberations of that organization is Mercury exposure from interior latex paint. states that the association was founded in NEnglJMed. 1990;323:1096-1101. totally false and insults the Office of 1928, a full 3 years after it supposedly 2. Campbell SS. Acute mercurial poisoning Scientific Integrity and its successor, the achieved its "greatest triumph." This by inhalation of metallic vapor in an infant. Office of Research Integrity. obvious error makes us wonder whether Can MedAssocJ. 1948;58:72-75. The charges against Dr Needleman your publication gave any sort of critical 3. Curtis HA, Ferguson SD, Kell RL, Samuel stemmed from a 1990/91 Environmental examination to the Silbergeld article be- AH. Mercury as a health hazard. Arch Dis Protection Agency court case involving fore publishing it. Child. 1987;62:293-295. the Sharon Steel Company (not a lead We are proud of our industry's 4. Davis LE, Kornfield M, Mooney HS, et al. company). The testimony of Dr Needle- outstanding record of encouraging proper Methylmercury poisoning: long-term clini- cal, radiological, toxicological, and patho- man, an expert witness for the govern- use of our product. Lead today is safely logical studies of an affected family. Ann ment in that case, was challenged by used in vehicle batteries, electronic prod- NeuroL 1994;35:680-688. expert witnesses Dr Claire Ernhart and ucts such as computers and TVs, x-ray 5. Yeates KO, Mortensen ME. Acute and Dr Sandra Scarr. The judge ordered Dr shielding, and scores ofother applications chronic neuropsychological consequences Needleman to make available his original that benefit society. O of mercury vapor poisoning in two early data to these scientists in order to Jerome F. Smith adolescents. J Clin Exp NewuopsychoL 1994; substantiate his statements. Dr Needle- 16:209-222. man, who received government grant Requests for reprints should be sent to Jerome 6. Bird HR, Canino I. The sociopsychiatry of money to perform research, previously F. Smith, Lead Industries Association, Inc, 295 "espiritismo": findings of a study of psychi- Madison Ave, New York, NY 10017. atric populations of Puerto Rican and had refused to reveal these data to the other Hispanic children. JAm Acad Child public. Psychiatry. 1981;20:725-740. A Dr Reference partial review of Needleman's 1. Silbergeld EK Annotation: protection of 7. Peyser A. Ritualistic poison. New York data by Drs Ernhart and Scarr apparently the public interest, allegations of scientific Post. September 12, 1991:5. suggested enough irregularities to war- misconduct, and the Needleman case. Am J 8. Rauch KD. The spiritual use of poisonous rant further investigation, and since the Public Health. 1995;85:165-166. mercury. Washington Post. August 13, 1991:7. research was sponsored by government a 9. Wendroff AP. Domestic mercury pollu- funds, Drs Ernhart and Scarr filed 2. The Critics' Ar uments tion.Nature. 1990;347:623. complaint with the Office of Scientific 10. Fagala GE, Wigg CL. Psychiatric manifes- Integrity. The Office of Scientific Integrity Dr Ellen Silbergeld portrayed Dr tation of mercury poisoning. J Am Acad then requested the University of Pitts- Herbert Needleman as a "courageous Child Adolesc Psychiatiy. 1992;31:306-311. burgh to conduct an inquiry. man of intellectual integrity" wrongfully 112 American Journal of Public Health January 1996, Vol. 86, No.1 Letters to the Editor accused of misconduct by lead industry Report: University of Pittsbugh. Rockville, is something inherently distasteful and representatives, but she ignored the pub- Md: Public Health Service; 1994. unseemly in secreting either the fruits or lished facts. Although Needleman was 3. Silver GA. Editor's note.AmJPublic Health. 1995;85:167. seeds of scientific endeavors."7 found not guilty ofscientific misconduct in 4. Scaff S. A whistleblower's perspective on Acting as responsible scientists, we the legal sense, the investigative bodies the Needleman case. Pediatrics. 1993;91:173- informed NIH's Office of Scientific Integ- (the University of Pittsburgh and the 174. Letter. rity of our conclusions regarding Needle- federal Office of Research Integrity) 5. Ernhart C. Deliberate misrepresentations. man's data. The lead industry was not Pediatrics. 1993;91:171-173. Letter. found Needleman's studies scientifically involved. flawed.1'2 Both investigative groups de- The following are our responses to scribed Needleman's work as involving a 3. A Reply from Scarr Silbergeld's queries regarding the current "pattem of errors, omissions, contradic- state ofmisconduct investigations. tions, and incomplete information from and Emhart the original publication to the present." 1. What is the basis for a charge of Silbergeld's report' of Needleman's scientific misconduct? The University of Pittsburgh found that difficulties ignored his university's hearing- Needleman had engaged in "deliberate Silbeigeld: Our charges were mere board finding of "deliberate misrepresen- suspicions that should have been dis- misrepresentation" and "substandard sci- tation" and the concurrence of the Public ence"; they referred to Needleman's missed. Health Service's Office ofResearch Integ- Response: Inquiries into Needle- dismissal of critics as lead industry repre- rity. Silver, without naming us, maligned man's work were conducted in sequence sentatives and to his attempts to intimi- us in editor's note.2 We have been his by us; (2) the NIH Office of Scientific date his investigators, including the univer- denied for a complete response; the (1) report space and (4) the sity board itself. The university's following are highlights. Integrity; (3) the Inquiry Panel stated that had Needleman accurately Hearing Board at the University of Pitts- described his methodology and subject Silbe,geld: Attempts by the lead indus- try to discredit Needleman were dis- burgh; and (5) the Office of Research selection, he "would have risked rejec- Integrity. Reports document deliberate tion" of his article by the New England missed "after careful analysis" by an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) misrepresentation and poor science. We Joumal of Medicine. In addition, the are four steps removed from the case, yet Office ofResearch Integrity cited misplot- expert committee. Response: When the EPA was evalu- Needleman and his supporters abuse us. ted graph points, which were found 2. Who should investigate miscon- "difficult to explain as honest error," and ating the criteria for lead exposure, Emlhart questioned Needleman's work; duct? uncorrected mistakes in Needleman's Silbergeld: Universities will not exon- original New England Journal ofMedicine he himself attacked her research. EPA appointed an expert committee,3 which erate defendants for fear of charges of manuscript pointed out by a coauthor.
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